Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/03/16

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Bessa T Brouhahahhahahahahah (Looooonnnggg)
From: Cummer Family <cummer@asiaonline.net>
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 10:13:16 +0800

Dear Luggers,
As Tom says, "this is fun."  It is clear that some of us are name and
equipment obsessed and certainly that is okay - but I hope we will keep our
sense of humor and be polite with each other. Those of us who have been on
the LUG for some time know about Marc's opinion of Cosina's use of the
Voiglander name and that is just fine but Marc, the repetition does get -
well you know what I mean. :) :) (note smileys). Cosina bought the rights
to the name legally, I presume, fair and square, and have used it to
rebrand their LTM cameras. More power to them. We Who Know are not deceived
and for myself, I don't really care, I am more interested in the equipment
and how it performs. Through friend Joseph and the camera stores in Hong
Kong I have had a complete inventory of VC equipment and frankly some of it
I like and some of it I don't care for so much - preferring the Leica
equivalent. But I am certainly grateful that Mr. Kobayashi has given us
some choice and I am also grateful to Tom and Stephen for exposing this
equipment to us in a timely fashion. I don't believe they have alterior
motives and even if they did, I don't care. All of us are part photographer
and part gear-head and with the CV equipment is doesn't cost an arm and a
leg to experiment a bit. Examples: I bought one of the early Bessa L's and
a 25 Skopar. Didn't really care for the lack of viewfinder and rangefinder
and so sold the L and the Skopar - since it pretty much duplicated the
focal length of my 24 Elmarit - which is a better lens but much bigger.
OTH, I have kept the 15mm Heliar although I use it rarely, because it
wasn't much money, compared to the rare, collectible Leica equivalent, and
it doesn't take up much space in my camera bag. For the other CV lenses
which I have, the 75 is a keeper - I don't have a 75 Summilux, the 35
pancake is great for compact travelling, but for the other 35 F1.7 and the
50 F1.5, I prefer my Leica glass - especially my old Summarit LTM from
1950. However, I prefer to use LTM lenses on my Bessa R, which for me is a
great camera and much better than any LTM Leica body, except perhaps the G,
which is too expensive as a rare collectible. Another thing about the
Bessa, my particular obsession is rangefinder accuracy as Luggers know, and
Joseph has showed me how to adjust the rangefinder on my Bessa (I tried
three other bodies with rangefinder inaccuracies before getting to this one
and learning how to adjust the finder) so I am happy with rangefinder
accuracy and with the fact that I can adjust it. Some on the lug may recall
that Leica finally replaced the rangefinder on my M6HM TTL when they
couldn't adjust it to stay in trim - score one for Cosina. I like seeing
information about Leica compatible equipment in the Viewfinder and I
commend the editor for giving it to us - Viewfinder could be pretty dull
without it - as there is a limit to what you can say fresh about old lenses
and camera bodies which is new  - if you have  studied Leicas for many
years as some of us have. Concerning comments about ethics, let he who is
without sin cast the first stone! I have been doing business in Asia for
two plus decades and friendship counts more than legality. I give my best
Chinese customers Leica Miniluxes as presents, the second best ones get
Nikons or Rollies (made by Samsung BTW) and those tokens "buy" me more
cooperation than a 100 page legal contract! Is it ethical - I leave it to
the lawyers - it gets the business done!
Enough - I am going out to take pictures in the smoggy light - with my R6.2
(my Nikon F2 is better built) and a borrowed Vario Elmar zoom. May visual
inspiration strike.   z z z z  o o o o o o o o   m  m    m     m.
Howard.